Good news everyone! Three hours of Sunday church service and weekday church meetings are paying off in more than spiritual ways. All that instruction is making us religiously smart, so says recent research by the Pew Forum on religion and public life.Pew research shows that “Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups . . . of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.” On a test of 32 religious questions, “Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.”Way to go everyone! Perhaps this study will help convince the evangelical community that Mormons are religiously informed people. You see, by and large they think we are deceived members of a cult. Case in point: The evangelical response to Glenn Beck’s recent revival in Washington DC. Christiannewswire.com is skeptical about Beck’s ability to create a religious revival in America because of his religion, Mormonism. The website brings up many of the old arguments against Mormonism. Here’s a sampling.1. Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Mormonism is not a Christian denomination but a cult of Christianity.My response: According to latter-day scripture America was founded for the purpose of bringing forth the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ (aka Mormonism).2. The country needs to get back to the simplicity of the Bible. The reason our country is in bad shape is that ministers for the most part do not share the truth. Many endorse false gospels including Mormonism.My response: America is a better place because of the Restoration (aka Mormonism).Blaming Mormonism and accusing Mormons of not being Christian has been going on for a long time. These sorts of accusations have been a major stumbling block for many evangelicals, thus keeping them from the blessings of the Restored gospel. Removing these stumbling blocks from evangelicals’ minds seems a big a task, kind of like taking down the Iron Curtain, but we all know what the Lord did to that barrier. I welcome the day when the evangelical community declares that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) are Christian. The Pew study will hopefully help in this regard. In this world of increasing secularism, America will be better off if evangelicals and Mormons set aside their differences and unite in the cause of promoting traditional Christian values.

I too find the PEW results fascinating. I am glad we LDS did not come off as being too unknowledgeable.

Yes, we are Christians. I do not think we claim to be "orthodox" Christians. We would probably be quite satisfied with "nonorthodox" as a label. But, the fact remains that if one takes away Jesus of the New Testament away from Mormonism, then there is nothing left.

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Dave C.

10/1/2010 02:43:17 am

Stan,

"So if we go to church for 3 hours and go to early morning seminary, how did the atheists/agnostics beat us? Do they have a secret bible study group while we're not looking? "

Ha ha! Good point. There's got to be some covert bible study going on. If only we had beaten them by a few points, that would have given us bragging rights.

"Yes, I think the evangelicals were a bit miffed because if I remember right, Mormons smoked them on general Bible knowledge specifically."

Yeah. I love it.

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Dave C.

10/1/2010 02:47:46 am

SFaux,

"I too find the PEW results fascinating. I am glad we LDS did not come off as being too unknowledgeable."

Yes, a sigh of relief, really. If we had come off at the low end that would have perpetuated the cultish stereotype.I like the idea of being side by side with Jews; they are kind of a bookish and scholarly bunch. Still haven't figured out how the atheists scored so high, however.

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Paul

10/1/2010 11:01:51 pm

In my opinion the correct way to view these results is that we know 20 out of 32 basic questions, which is pretty pathetic considering the mandate we have in the D&C to study history, nations, etc. It should be possible to change some of the seminary and institute curriculum to include a good basic knowledge of other religious beliefs and practices and religious history in order to fulfill this divine mandate.

What does impress me however, is that the Pew studies show that Mormons view others much more positively than we are viewed. Being net contributors of religious good will is something to be proud of. We can take this generosity and try to apply it in the political arena too, where we view other parties and other political systems benevolently too.

Glenn Beck’s theology is based on First Century Christianity, not Fourth Century Creeds. For example, the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) views on Baptism, Lay Ministry, the Trinity, Theosis, Grace vs. Works, the Divinity of Jesus Christ comport more closely with Early Christianity than any other denomination. And Mormons’ teenagers have been judged to “top the charts” in Christian Characteristics by a UNC-Chapel Hill study. Read about it here:

http://MormonsAreChristian.blogspot.com

Those who would denigrate Glenn Beck’s religion, usually have an ulterior motive.

11 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were non-Trinitarian Christians. Those who insist on a narrow definition of Christianity are doing our Republic an injustice.

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jack

10/3/2010 12:10:56 am

If you've taken the test, you won't take much comfort from it. It's pretty superficial. Maybe it says more about those who didn't do well than those who did.